Title: Two sorts of Agency

As you probably know, there are two sorts of people: those that think there are two sorts of people and those that don’t.

But there are definitely two types of company that build websites and it’s important you get the right one for the job.

On the one side you have the companies who categorise themselves as a 'digital agency’ and have a obvious contempt for traditional or 'offline marketing’ as it’s now known, and will almost certainly have an office in Shorditch.

Despite thinking they are pioneering the online marketing revolution, their ancestry is rooted in the traditional advertising agency model of Saatchi & Saatchi and WPP.

Meanwhile the other sort of web-smith company evolved from the geek gene pool and still retains a slight odder of IT.  They would categorise themselves as 'web developers’ and are desperately trying to speak to traditional marketing managers, if only they could finds a common lexicon.

They will probably be based in technology centre in some regional regeneration area, but mostly work at home, because in case you hadn’t worked it out, that’s what the Internet is actually for.

The former will have a tendency to develop their sites in Flash, because it lets them treat the web like television, which is a medium they are more comfortable with and most likely so are their clients.

The latter will be obsessed with usability and search engine friendliness and often miss the point that getting visitors to a site is only half the battle in turning them into customers.

Agency man will say the web is just one 'brand touch point’ in what needs to be a cross platform above and below-the-line, integrated, media neutral brand experience.

Most importantly he’ll be able to keep a straight face while saying so.

Developer man will however understand that if your website annoys visitors they won’t buy your products and that in the online world, usability determines the brand experience.

Agency man thinks Web 2.0 is a technology; developers know it’s an industry nickname for sites that encourages user generated content and venture capitol.

Developer man will actually engage in online social networking. Agency man will talk about it, while engaging in offline social networking – also known as drinking after work.

Developer man has given up surfing news sites, because they contain too many adverts, in favour of RSS feeds. He thinks the days of banner and other forms of display advertising online are over, with text only sites being the future.

Agency man will have a job title like User Experience Architect or Head of Search, won’t be wearing a tie and has probably got a t-shirt Google gave him, which he wears with pride.

So which of the two should you let build your websites?

The truth is you need to find a company that is both. One that has managed to keep a tricky equilibrium of people who know what the web is really about, and those who really know how to exploit its marketing potential.


Chris is managing director of Internet consultancy WAA WebXpress. This and other unedited articles can be found at www.webxpress.com . E-mail chris@webxpress.com

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